The Role of the Holy Spirit in Apologetics

Apologists and pastors are on the same team when it comes to evangelizing, but sometimes it feels like they are pulling in different directions. Apologists tend to emphasize evidence while pastors tend to emphasize the role of the Holy Spirit. Biblically speaking, there is an important place for both evidence and the Holy Spirit – neither can be excluded. God uses different means to accomplish His purposes by His Spirit. Unfortunately, for many apologists, while acknowledging the role of the Holy Spirit, we have little room in our understanding of how evidence and the Holy Spirit work together. In this article, I want to sketch out how one particular role of the Holy Spirit affects our apologetic efforts and the efficacy of our arguments.

Here is a short summary of the argument to follow:

• An examination of the Spirit’s role in the conviction of sin, the illumination of righteousness, and a better understanding of our true selves.

• A brief look at how sin blinds the reasoning process of individuals, especially in areas of moral perception.

• An examination of how the Holy Spirit can overcome sin to help unbelievers (and believers) see the validity of certain powerful arguments for the truth of Christianity.

The Holy Spirit Convicts of Sin

As we tread upon these mysterious waters of the work of the Holy Spirit, we must be content with understanding what the Spirit does without needing to know how He does it. Even when we can’t see His methods, we can still discern the evidence of His work.

Throughout Scripture, the Spirit and the Word work in tandem. The Spirit convicts (John 16:8) and the Word convicts (2 Timothy 4:2). The Spirit gives life and the Word gives life (John 6:33). The Spirit strengthens (Ephesians 3:16) and the Word strengthens (Acts 20:32). In many ways, the Word and the Spirit are so closely intertwined that they seem synonymous. The Spirit speaks through His prophets and apostles to speak His word. God’s Word is “breathed out” by His Spirit (2 Timothy 3:16).

One of the primary works of the Spirit, according to Jesus, is the conviction of sin, righteousness, and judgement. John 16:8 says, “And when [the Spirit] comes, he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgement…” Mankind is enslaved to sin. The problem is not that men commit various kinds of sin, but that their hearts (or their inclinations and desires) are bent towards sin. They cannot fix themselves, but run after sin in all its various forms. According to this passage in John, the Spirit (in combination with the Word) comes to reveal this sin to the hearts of men with clarity and conviction. In similar fashion, He makes clear (by removing the blinders of sinful desire) what true righteousness really is.

Sin Blinds The Reasoning Process

Imagine for a moment a jealous husband. It’s not just your ordinary jealousy, but jealously bordering on crazy. He is convinced other men are always after his wife. He tracks her every move. He refuses to trust and always assumes the worst. No matter how faithful she is, he still finds reason for suspicion. She could say and do all the right things, demonstrating her faithfulness in every possible way, but his jealousy will always bend his heart toward suspicion. Such a man cannot see what is true (i.e. his wife’s faithfulness) because of jealousy. To use biblical language, his sin has blinded him to the truth.

Such is the case with many moral truths. Sin blinds us to what is right and true. Pornography and lust numb our senses toward love and fidelity. Prejudice prevents us from seeing the dignity and value of other human beings. Pride keeps us from seeing our own weaknesses and limitations. Selfishness blinds us to the needs of others and the goodness of serving them. In short, immorality prevents us from seeing truth.

If we turn to the Bible, it too speaks of sin as a blinding agent. To live in sin is to be blinded spiritually and morally. In 2 Corinthians 4:4, Paul argues that unbelievers are blind and therefore cannot see the glory of the Gospel. “…in whose case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving so that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.” We see that spiritual blindness prevents people from seeing what is true and glorious.

Paul frames the argument a little differently in Ephesians 4:17-19:

“So this I say, and affirm together with the Lord, that you walk no longer just as the Gentiles also walk, in the futility of their mind, being darkened in their understanding, excluded from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardness of their heart; and they, having become callous, have given themselves over to sensuality for the practice of every kind of impurity with greediness.”

Paul goes further in this passage, indicating that futility of mind is caused by hardness of heart and sensual living.

The Holy Spirit Overcomes Sin To Make The Evidence Clear

Let’s now examine how the role of the Holy Spirit, and specifically the conviction of sin, can contribute toward an unbeliever coming to believe the Gospel. To do this, we will look at one piece of evidence for the truth of Christianity and how the Holy Spirit might work on the unbeliever to make belief in the Gospel possible through this evidence.

A particularly compelling, but often neglected, argument for the truth of Christianity is the perfection of the character and teaching of Jesus. Untold numbers of believers down through the ages have come to faith in Christ simply by reading about him in the Gospel records. How does this happen? When they encounter Jesus in the Gospels, they encounter someone too perfect to be invented and too smart to be the product of mere unlearned Jewish men. In short, Jesus is too good to be false. (For a modern treatment of this argument, check out Tom Gilson’s book Too Good To Be False.)

But why doesn’t everyone see Jesus as the divine figure he is? The ability of the unbeliever to see Jesus as perfect, compelling, and glorious is weakened or eliminated by their sin. When we desire and embrace sin, we can’t bear to gaze at holiness – the pain of guilt is too strong to bear. Additionally, sin distorts our ability to even see moral truths clearly. For instance, when we are addicted to lust, our ability to know real love is weakened or even lost. However, our inability to see the perfections of Jesus doesn’t mean this objective evidence isn’t there for us to see.

So how could the work of the Holy Spirit make it possible for the unbeliever to see the objective evidence of Jesus’ perfection? According to John 16:8, the Holy Spirit convicts of sin and righteousness. When this happens, a person is aware of their sin, and sees sin as sin. At the same time, they become aware (as if roused from a sleep) that there is a righteousness which is opposed to that sin. Conviction is when this moment of moral clarity happens. If embraced, one is then able to see Jesus for who he really is, the perfectly righteous one.

In this example alone, we see two things. First, sin can really prevent a person from seeing the objective evidence of righteousness, particularly as it is manifest in the person of Jesus. Second, this blindness can be removed through the convicting work of the Holy Spirit. So in one sense, the unbeliever can’t see the evidence, and he might plead he is not culpable for his inability to believe. However, since his sin prevents his ability to see, he is without excuse. This is essentially Paul’s argument in Romans 1:18-23. The evidence is there for all to see, but sin-induced blindness prevents us from seeing.

Conclusion

Much more could be said on this topic. We have only scratched the surface of the role of God’s Spirit. Additionally, only one example of the many Christian evidences was highlighted. But the argument could easily apply to other evidences. Sin can either prevent us from seeing the evidence or can affect our prejudices in assessing the evidence. In either case, the role of the Holy Spirit is indispensable in belief. I’ll close with this quote from 19th century theologian John Cumming in his work The Comforter:

Our reason is dimmed in its brightness, broken in its power, shorn of much of its pristine glory, but it exists still. The strings of the mind are untuned, its primeval melodies suspended, but when the finger of God shall retouch it, all its discords will be silenced, and its primeval and awful harmonies will be evolved, responding to the universal harmony of the restored universe around it…The Spirit of God opens the eye of the conscience, purifies it, retouches and restores its pristine strength and excellency.